Stop the Presses

In a lot of ways Windows 95 is like Linux; in a lot of ways, it isn't.

Looks like I volunteered (read: was
volunteered) to write the Windows 95 article for Linux Journal. Seems like we have to do it—every other
computer magazine did. I suggested to our Editor that it could be
humorous or serious. He told me it didn't matter, I would get
flamed either way. So, here goes—you decide if it is humorous or
serious.

I am writing this column in early August, just a couple of
weeks before the scheduled release of Windows 95. In case you
haven't been on this planet for the last year or so, Windows 95 is
a product of a small company called Microsoft located about 10
miles east of the Linux Journal offices. In a
lot of ways Windows 95 is like Linux; in a lot of ways, it isn't.
Let's look at a few of the similarities.

Win95 and Linux both run on Intel-based PC hardware. (Linux
also runs on other hardware such at the Alpha and Amiga, but that
is beside the point.)

Win95 and Linux are both 32-bit operating systems. (Linux on
the Alpha is 64-bit, but that isn't important. And when
WINDOWS Magazine Editor-at-Large John Ruley
interviewed Georg Moore, a Microsoft program manager, he was told
that Win95 is really a hybrid, with lots of 16-bit components
remaining.)

Win95 and Linux both run user applications in protected mode.
(Except that Win95 maps memory from 64KB to 4MB into the address
space of all applications, with write access to all data areas
between 64KB and 4MB. Again, from John Ruley's interview.)

Win95 and Linux both include networking. (If the U.S.
government allows this in Win95. And, of course, Linux includes
NFS, NIS, uucp, .... In other words, a lot more networking with an
open architecture, which makes it easy to network Linux with other
operating systems.)

Win95 and Linux both include a GUI. (Of course, the Win95 GUI
only runs on whatever Win95 runs on. The Linux GUI, X-Windows, is
available on many platforms.)

Win95 and Linux are both written in C. (Well, that's what I
have heard. While Linux source code is freely available, Win95
source is not.)

Win95 and Linux are both licensed software products. (The
licenses do differ: the Win95 license says you can't share, the
Linux license says you must share. Also, if you didn't see it
before, take a look at Linus Torvald's “Linux '95 Final Release”,
a spoof on Microsoft's license that he posted to Usenet in March
(on our Web site at
www.ssc.com/lj/issue18/final.html).

Enough for the similarities.

Win95 includes the “Registration Wizard” which allows
automatic, on-line registration of the software. Why, even consumer
advocate Ralph Nader has noticed this. In fact, in a letter to US
President Bill Clinton he said “Another objectional feature of
Windows 95 is the Microsoft online `Registration Wizard'. This part
of the program is designed to scan automatically a user's hard
disk, dial-up Microsoft, and download information to Microsoft
about the files on the user's hard disk, including the titles and
versions of software applications. Critics of this practice,
including the Department of Defense, have questioned the impact of
this practice on data security and privacy.” While this
registration is optional—you have to click OK to enable
this—one wrong mouse click can compromise the privacy of your
system.

Enough of the rumors.

Let me look at the serious part of what Win95 means for Linux
users.

The inclusion of networking in Win95 means that the Internet
will grow faster than ever before. The World Wide Web, already
experiencing fantastic growth, will grow even faster. (I guess this
is why we are starting a magazine called
WEBsmith for Web developers.) CompuServe
figured this out and bought Spry, a company that sells Web
sites.

While Win95 shows that Microsoft is finally getting serious
about connectivity, Linux was born on the Internet and has a lot of
experience working with diverse systems. PC
Week started its life with Web servers on Linux boxes
and today even Spry uses Linux for its Web servers. If 100,000,000
people eventually get on the Internet with Win95 boxes, the
Internet probably will need another 1,000,000 Web sites to handle
the traffic and offer new services. Many of these systems could be
and will be Linux systems.

Microsoft will sell tens of millions of copies of Win95 to
people who want a desktop workstation. Companies such as Caldera
expect to sell Linux with their desktop software to a similar
market. The “features” of Win95 I listed above will help many
companies and individuals choose Linux instead of Win95. If my 100
million estimate is right and 1% pick Linux instead, that's another
1 million Linux systems.

Another use for Linux systems is vertical applications. A
dentist doesn't care what kind of operating system her computer
runs. She wants a reliable, cost-effective system that takes care
of appointments and billing. With Linux's low cost (free software
and low system requirements), it is a fierce, though quiet,
competitor in this market.

While Microsoft will sell tens of millions (9 million sales
are projected for the remainder of 1995 alone), and maybe
eventually hundreds of millions, of copies of Win95, the number of
uses for computers is growing. Rather than try to capture the whole
Win95 market (which we can't afford to do), Linux can fill plenty
of niches far better than Win95.

Finally, a tip for Linux users who wish to try Win95. A bug
in the Win95 installer code causes it to destroy the master boot
record of your hard disk. This has been reported to Microsoft, but
there has been no response. Linux users who install Win95 must then
reinstall LILO or whatever other boot manager you are using. While
I haven't tried it, I have been told that LILO works fine and will
boot Win95.

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